Will I?
by glassesgirl21
Summary: Jade meets Cat in the midst of a silent night at the park.


**Okay. Cat and Jade are pretty OOC in this and yeah. They're 13 in here.**

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The click of Jade's combat boots could be heard loud and clear as it smoothly competed against the silence of the night. With her hands tucked into the pockets of her jeans, she steadily strode and shut her senses against everything, ignoring the sudden hoots of the owls and the soft rustles of the trees. She knew where she was going. She _always did_ know where she was going. She had known the path since she was only eight years old. The way to escape, the way to just ignore and to take a break from all the madness. The park, in the middle of the night, was where she sat alone and took a rest from all the craziness. Then she saw it. The two big maple trees, siding the open entrance, everything else concealed with a metal fence. She entered the park and the two trees waved and whispered as if they welcomed her into the park and were glad to see her again. Her lips curled into a tiny smile as she paced to her favorite place in the park: the swing.

But then, she heard something.

It wasn't a sudden clang, or a swish of leaves behind her. It was some sort of... humming, she guessed. It was a pretty sound. Not a sound that would make you want to run out the park in fright, it was that kind of sound that would get you curious and wondering. She scampered nearer to where she heard the humming, and she met the noise with more clarity. The melody of the song was somehow familiar to her, and then the humming turned into quiet, graceful singing. After another listen, Jade heard what the girl was singing.

_"Will I lose my dignity? Will someone care? Will I wake tomorrow from this nightmare?"_

That short phrase was repeated in an elegant melody over and over again. Jade knew this song; it was a song from the musical RENT.

She took smaller steps, and she could see a dark silhouette of someone, more likely a teenage girl, sitting still on the swing. The small body had her head slumped to her shoulder, her back slouched, and had her hands wrapped around the rusty metal chains of the swing. She slowly approached the girl, and said a soft and welcoming 'hi.'

The singing was brought to a halt, and the girl snapped her head behind her to see who was there.

"Hello," the thin, weak voice said.

Jade gazed into the other girl's milky brown eyes. The girl's red and puffy eyes were speaking for herself; she had been crying. The girl's cheeks looked drenched, and her luscious dark brown curls were scruffy and unkempt. "I'm Jade."

"Cat," the girl, now known to Jade as Cat, replied. She spoke in the same thin and weak tone as if she was hesitant to talk.

"What are you doing here?" Jade politely asked, sitting on the swing right beside the swing Cat was sitting on.

"Just..." Cat paused for a moment. "Resting."

"Really?" Jade swung the swing gently and softly. "It doesn't look like it."

"Can you just please leave me alone?" Cat said, in a louder but still frail voice.

"Well okay then," responded Jade, slightly startled. "But keep in mind that I also stay here every Saturday night, and that that's always my swing. The swing I always sit on."

"Really?" for once, Cat stopped swinging and took a look at Jade. "Since when?"

"Five years ago," Jade responded sharply and snappily.

"I started at around three years ago," Cat said, staring at the grassy and damp ground below her. "I'm always in here at a later time."

Jade raised an eyebrow.

"Where do you live?" asked Jade.

"Just a few blocks away," responded Cat, in a slightly livelier tone. "You?"

"Somewhere. It's not really that far," Jade replied. "I still don't know why you're here, though..."

"I'll tell you the whole story," Cat took a deep breath and gulped. She could hear her heart pounding, and nearly pouding out of her chest. She looked down and stared at the grass again. "My dad doesn't love me very much..."

"And?"

"Sometimes when he comes home late, he just hurts me... and," Cat paused. She shed a solitary tear, and left it trickling down her cheek. Jade just looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "It's not a pleasant experience."

"Cat, that's terrible..." Jade patted her back sincerely, but instead the girl let out a high pitched shriek.

"Ouch! My back hurts," Cat squealed, jerking Jade's hand off her back.

"I'm sorry!" Jade apologized, in a sincere manner.

"Well, you? What're you here for?" asked Cat.

"It's nothing on your story," Jade said, confidently and bravely. She cleared her throat. "My mother and father fight a lot during the night. And it's annoying so I just stay here."

Cat nodded. There was a moment of silence between the two, and they both just sat there, looking straight and thinking. Then Jade broke the silence.

"You have a beautiful voice, you know," Jade commented, with a gentle smile on her face.

"Thanks," Cat let out a small laugh. "I plan on going to the auditions for Hollywood Arts High School next week."

"Me too!" Jade blurted. "That's really cool."

Cat smiled. Suddenly, a car with bright lights zigzagged across the roads, as if the driver was drunk. The tires of the car shrieked, turn by turn, but the car recklessly turned and drove away.

"That was my dad," Cat stood up from the swing, with the smile still on her face.

"Why are you so happy about that?" Jade asked, standing slowly.

"He's always like that. Comes home drunk, hits me, then I go here, then he leaves and disappears for the next three hours or so," Cat said in a rushed manner. "I better get going."

"Can I walk with you to your house? My parents don't give a shit on what time I go home anyway."

"Sure," Cat smiled, and they both walked together.

While walking to Cat's house, the both had an intent conversation about Hollywood Arts, the auditions, and performing arts in general. The both learned more about each other, they learned that they both loved to sing and act and the both learned that they wish to become a star in the future, making them both have a better and stronger bond. Then Cat stopped in front of this simple, two-storied house with a white picket fence.

"This is my house," Cat said with a slightly bright smile. "I just want to say that I'm very thankful for you, Jade. That you even bothered to say hi to me. That meant so much, especially in the middle of a tough and hopeless night."

Jade smiled. Another one of those dreadful silent pauses struck the two, leaving them both staring at each other. Then Cat gave Jade a big hug and cried, out of gratitude, on her shoulder. Jade was a tad bit weirded out; and just awkwardly returned the hug.

Cat said another 'goodbye' then left, leaving Jade alone standing right outside her house.

Jade thought for a second about Cat, about all the things they talked about, about that hug, and smiled.

That was the first time she has felt warmth in ages.

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**So, how'd you like it? I'm pretty sure it's kinda sucky but whatever. Do you guys think that this should be left as a one-shot or should I continue it?**


End file.
